The Big 12 title is still a lofty goal for West Virginia, but they looked good on Saturday

Turns out, the only thing that could slow No. 17 West Virginia in Week 1 was a weather delay.

Lightning in the area prolonged halftime in Charlotte for well over an hour, but it also served as a spark to give West Virginia a fairly easy 40-14 win over Tennessee. Up just 13-7 at the half, the Mountaineers came out hot with three touchdowns and outscored the Vols 20-7 in the third quarter.

Quarterback Will Grier has been getting a major push by the school this summer for the Heisman Trophy. For one week, anyway, he did nothing to detract from those aspirations. Grier finished with 429 yards passing and a whopping five touchdowns, two of which went to his favorite receiver, David Sills V, a likely Biletnikoff Award candidate.

Although Tennessee was able to find some rhythm with its offense through running back Tim Jordan (118 yards and a touchdown), it had too much trouble sustaining drives. In particular, the Vols struggled early to establish the run and got behind the sticks on second and third downs. It'll be a long season for Jeremy Pruitt's team if they have a hard time winning the line of scrimmage, but this has always been a rebuilding year.

It's still too early to determine if West Virginia can legitimately challenge for the Big 12 championship, but it dispatched Tennessee with some efficiency at the start of the second half. This offense is for real and Grier, when he's in the zone, is a surgeon. If nothing else, the Mountaineers should be a lot of fun to watch in 2018.

CBS Sports was with you the entire way Saturday updating this story with highlights and analysis from the game. Check it out below.

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Ben Kercheval joined CBS Sports in 2016 and has been covering college football since 2010. Before CBS, Ben worked at Bleacher Report, UPROXX Sports and NBC Sports. As a long-suffering North Texas graduate,...
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